If you follow the Knoxweb Blog, you will know how vital social media marketing is to your business plan. Marketing with social media will not only boost your SEO, but can also improve your ROI and your bottom line. According to Knoxweb, not being involved in social media is like shooting yourself in the foot.

Knoxweb explains that a social media marketing strategy helps define your business goals and how you will successfully use social media to communicate with your followers, fans, friends of friends and much more. It is imperative that you come up with a strategy first, and then a plan of action.

It’s important to note that even if you are not active on social media, you can bet the competition is, and that includes a large portion of your clientele. If you don’t understand social media and aren’t part of the conversation, you cannot influence the outcome.

If you are unaware about what people are saying about your product or service, it is impossible to ensure that the key message you want to convey is being heard. Social media helps you understand what people want, what they want to talk about, and what they want to hear from your business or organization.

Below are Three Reasons that Knoxweb Recommends Social Media Marketing:

Social Media is still Growing

Mobile-There are more people accessing the World Wide Web with a mobile device, in fact, that number increased by almost 70 percent at the end of 2016.

Older Users-The fastest growing age demographic on Google + and Facebook is in the 45-54 age bracket.

With improved mobile connections and the ability to access your social media accounts on the go makes it easy for people to socialize, shop and engage on social media.

When you create a social media strategy that is targeted to your demographic, you can connect with existing and future clients and customers.

Purchasing Decisions

According to Knoxweb, the majority of purchasing decisions are now being made via social media. When you use Facebook Advertising, you can:

Create thought provoking ads and campaigns

Manage your audience with custom targeting

Build dashboards that are customized for your products and services

Run analytics

Manage user data

Manage your campaign, accounts, and pages

Over half of people who use social media are now using those platforms to make a purchasing decision. In fact, 46 percent are deciding what they want to buy based on social media with those numbers set to skyrocket in the coming years.

Customers and Clients are Active on Social Media

These days most people head to social media to share, use and access information. If you want your blog to be read, it is vital that you share it on your social media pages for social media marketing. Social media may only be a small percentage of your audience, but when you update your framework to include social media, others may just become fans and followers, even those who only check their Facebook or Twitter pages once a week.

Your Reputation Could be at Stake

Even if you aren’t on social media, your disappointed clients and customers probably are. Most social media websites have some sort of review system in place, and if you don’t have social pages, you won’t be able to dispute those reviews. Knowing what is being said about you on social media, whether it is good or bad is a great way to improve your business. When you hear what people are saying about your company, you can make changes that will improve your products and services.

Social media marketing is crucial to your business or organization. Let Knoxweb show you the ropes and help you with a sound social media marketing strategy that will help your business grow.

Mobile technology is ever changing, and unless you are an expert when it comes to Smartphone’s and tablets, you could be missing the boat. Knoxweb has the expertise to help your business grow with smart mobile technology.

If you own a small business, it is imperative that you understand the advancements in mobile technology. If you haven’t gone mobile with a mobile responsive website or a mobile app, you can bet your competition has.

When you schedule a no obligation consultation with the mobile technology team from Knoxweb, you can learn how to optimize your business or organization using the most advanced technology available today.

Small Business and Mobile Apps

With major companies such as Starbucks, 7-11, Dominos and Subway, to name a few, having success with mobile apps, it is just good sense to develop a mobile app for your small business. In 2016, location based mobile apps gained impressive ground with analysts predicting more small business owners to follow suit in 2017.

Augmented Reality Apps

What was once thought to be a gimmick is now becoming real. Utility mobile apps are some of the most widely used on the planet, and the best part is that these types of apps can help customer engagement, especially with millenials. Instant apps could be the solution to those abandoned mobile apps. With Google’s new technology, apps can start instantly when needed. There is no installing or downloading needed. This makes it the perfect solution for user engagement.

Artificial Intelligence

More developers are beginning to embed artificial intelligence into their mobile apps. This groundbreaking technology has changed the educational industries for good with mobile apps that teach kids how to learn. Mobile commerce has also taken the AL route with mobile apps that actually shop for you based on your buying preferences. With AL, you can have your own private teacher or personal shopper on your mobile device. As more things, including household necessities connect online, the need for mobile apps continues to grow.

Security

With the development of mobile phone wallets and purses, security is a huge concern. Mobile web developers put safety and security at the top of the list and rightfully so as Knoxweb predicts over 270 million mobile app downloads.

Businesses who adopt a strong mobile strategy with the help of Knoxweb can generate more income and;

Increase sales through mobile devices

Improve customer relations and engagement

Increase client loyalty

Knoxweb understands mobile technology and is continually educating the team with classes, seminars, and tutorials to make sure that you and your business stays on track even if you have yet to go mobile.

If you follow the Knoxweb blog, you will understand how important it is for your business or organization to go mobile. Since April of 2015, Google has been penalizing companies who aren’t mobile rewarding them with a less than healthy page ranking. A mobile responsive website or a mobile app will help your ranking in the search engines.

If you would like more information regarding mobile technology, or would like a price on a new responsive mobile website or a mobile app, call or click and schedule no obligation mobile technology consultation with Knoxweb today.

The Easter Bunny, painted Easter eggs, both centuries old traditions, but what do they really represent?

This Easter weekend, Knoxweb would like to take a moment to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion on Good Friday.

He is Risen

When Jesus died on the cross, he rose again on Easter Sunday, three days later. Those three days are referred to as the Easter Triduum.

Why is Easter on a different Day every Year?

The oldest and certainly the most important festival for the Christian Church, Easter falls on the first Sunday just after the first full moon after the Northern Spring Equinox between March 21 and April 25.

Easter Eggs

Today people all over the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with baskets filled with chocolate eggs delivered by the Easter Bunny. But why do people hide and hunt for eggs?

Even before Christianity, eggs were seen as the first signs of spring. Spring is the celebration of rebirth after the dark harsh winters.

Colored Eggs

Everyone loves to color Easter eggs. But why? A symbol from the Mesopotamian times the Christian community, which is in the area of Kuwait, Syria and Iraq would stain the eggs red symbolizing the blood of Christ. During Easter, the eggs would be cracked open against each other leaving empty shells, thus symbolizing the tomb of Jesus Christ. The tradition is alive today with the egg symbolizing the rock rolling away from the tomb of Jesus.

Elaborate Masterpieces

Over the centuries, Easter egg designers and jewelers started creating beautifully decorated eggs. These elaborate creations, known as Faberge eggs, are priceless today.

Chocolate Eggs

Introduced in the 19th century and originating in Germany and France, chocolate eggs are fairly new. Thanks to the sophisticated chocolate production during the time, chocolate eggs became marketable during Easter, just like Christmas.

The Rabbit and the Hare

Rabbits have been a symbol of spring for centuries. According to historians, the people of the time believed that the Goddess of Spring, Eostre, had a partner that was a hare. The hare symbolizes rebirth and fertility. Christians later changed the hare to what is the symbol of Easter today, the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny became a household name in the 19th century and became a symbol of new birth as rabbits have many litters with lots of babies, called kittens. According to legend, the Easter bunny lays and then decorates the eggs before hiding them representing rebirth.

Before you take a bite of that chocolate egg, take a moment and remember the true meaning of one the oldest religious Christian holiday in the world. Happy Easter from Knoxweb.

Christmas is just a couple of days away, and everyone knows that the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of Christ, but did you ever wonder where some of the strange customs that most people take for granted come from?

With the Pagan celebration in full swing, it was natural to celebrate Christ’s birth on the same day. Many writers have given reference to December 25 with Christmas being celebrated as early as the 4th century. Although Christmas is on the 25th, no one knows the exact date or even what year Jesus was born. Some researchers believe that Christ was actually born during the spring.

Gifts

The tradition of giving gifts is said to come from the three wise men delivering gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn King, however, the true origin of exchanging gifts goes back much further with children being given wax dolls during Saturnalia. The dolls represented human sacrifices that the Romans gave Saturn in return for a good harvest. Plants and trees were also given to represent a good bounty for the year.

X-Mas

Although some believe that the, “X,” was a commercial way to take Christ out of Christmas, that couldn’t be further from the truth. X is the Greek letter for Chi, which is the first letter of Christ in Greek. Jesus name was abbreviated to XP, the combination of both the first and second letters for Christ in Greek.

Stockings

Although most know that Saint Nicholas was the early Santa Clause, stocking stuffing goes back to the charitable donations of Saint Nicholas himself back in the 3rd century. Saint Nicholas believed that children should enjoy life, but at the time, girls and boys under the age of 10 were forced to support their families.

Saint Nicholas gave food, furniture, and clothing. The bishop even handed out oranges, which were very expensive and quite rare. The problem was where to put the gifts so that the boys and girls would be able to find them. According to legend, the bishop saw the girl’s stockings hanging from the fireplace after being washed and thought, why not? From that point on, children would hang their stockings on the fireplace hoping for a visit from Old Saint Nic.

Mistletoe

The parasitic plant, which attaches itself to tree branches absorbing nutrients from the tree trunk have been inspiring generations with the plant having a mythological background in many cultures.

Aeneas, the famous Greek ancestor of the Roman people carried mistletoe in a golden bough while in Eddic mythology; mistletoe was the only thing that would kill the Norse God Baldur. Other pre-Christian societies believed that mistletoe carried the male essence and was an extension of vitality, fertility, and romance.

Mistletoe was used as a decoration to protect homes from lightening and fire and was hung year round replacing it each year at Christmas time. Although no one really knows where the kissing came from, it was first recorded back in England in the 16th century.

Veterans Day marks the anniversary of the ending of the hostilities in WWI between Germany and the Allied Nations in 1918. America honors all veterans who have served in the armed forces in the United States.

Known as, “Armistice Day,” the federal holiday became legal in 1938. Following WWII and the Korean War, Armistice Day was officially known as Veterans Day, which was dedicated to all veterans who fought in all wars.

United States President Woodrow Wilson asked that the day be observed with public gatherings and parades with a moment of silence occurring at 11:00 am on 11/11. In 1921, an unidentified US soldier who was killed in the war was officially buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.

From Armistice to Veterans Day

With the mobilization of the Air Force, Marines, Navy and the US Army, in WWII, lobbyists amended the act getting rid of Armistice Day in favor of Veterans Day with President Dwight D. Eisenhower signing in the legislation on the first of June in 1954 making November 11 Veterans Day honoring all American veterans who were in all wars.

All over the world

Australia, France, Britain, and Canada also commemorate veterans in WWI and WWII on or near the same date. Britain celebrates Remembrance Day on the second Sunday each November, while Canada has Remembrance Day on our near November 11. The Commonwealth countries and Europe observe two minutes of silence every November 11 at 11:00 am.

In the US, a wreath is laid on the Tomb of the Unknowns each November 11 with a ceremony that takes place at the Arlington National Cemetery with parades and celebrations held in every state across the country.

With all of the discord and anger that has spread across the United States as of late, Knoxweb would like everyone to take a moment to come together and remember why this great holiday is celebrated in the first place, to honor those who have fought for this great country.

If you aren’t using Facebook advertising to your best advantage, you could be losing money. According to Knoxweb, Facebook advertising can boost your business and improve your client base.

Although there are ways grow your business organically using Facebook, Facebook advertising is so affordable, that you may want to ask yourself why you aren’t advertising on Facebook.

Facebook is truly the King when it comes to social media and is the number one choice for marketing as it has never been less expensive to create new demand and build your brand.

Knoxweb offers a few good reasons to advertise on Facebook if you are still on the fence.

People Spend Their Lives on Social Media

Facebook is just too massive for you to ignore. Get a Facebook page for your business and join the 50 million or so other businesses that have already done so. Your future customers and clients are probably hanging out on Facebook right now.

According to recent statistics, the average user will spend about 28 percent of their time on social networks. That is equivalent to 1.72 hours each day. The average person will spend about forty minutes every day just on Facebook, liking, and sharing content. Every minute, Facebook users will like over 4.1 million posts.

Over a Billion

According to figures recently released by Facebook, 1.55 billion people are logging into the massive social media site every month with 1.39 billion doing it on a mobile device.

Last August, Mark Zuckerberg proudly announced that Facebook reached a new milestone with over 1 billion people using Facebook every day. Half a billion log in via their Smartphone or Tablet. Facebook Advertising helps you reach your demographic and your audience.

What Happened to Facebook Organic?

Facebook Organic is on the way out, and if you have a business page, you may not understand that your fans will not see your updates. It may be sad, but only about 0.5 percent will ever see your business page updates.

For years, Facebook has been reducing business page visibility in news feeds, and although this is frustrating business owners, Facebook Advertising is taking over, but the good news is that you do not need a massive budget to advertise.

Knoxweb explains that $50.00 will help get your message out to between 5,000 and 10,000 users, and best of all, you can target your audience to the people who are attracted to your brand.

Content Promotion

With Facebook Advertising, you can amp up your great content reaching people that will buy your products and services. If you are creating awesome content for your website, you obviously want people to read it. That’s why businesses share content updates across multiple social networks, however, these days that isn’t enough.

With Facebook Advertising, you can amplify your content reach. As a bonus, you will actually get reach that is more organic as influencers will start sharing your ads, and yes, people on Facebook do share Facebook ads.

Target your Audience

With Facebook advertising, you can target your ads by demographics, location, gender, age, behavior, interests, and connections. Facebook ads allow you to be seen by the audience that you want to target as you can:

Get creative with event targeting

Check out recent purchase behaviors

Build loyalty and create leads

Create audiences for your demographics

If you are unsure where to begin, Knoxweb can help. Knoxweb has been in the business of social media since its inception and truly understands that social media landscape.

A mobile friendly website is even more important today than it was yesterday, and if you follow the news, you will know that the downfall of Yahoo, it is up for sale with record low earnings, could be because the company avoided the mobile market.

According to Knoxweb, having a mobile friendly website that is responsive is crucial if you want to maintain your ranking on the search engines. If you don’t have a mobile friendly website, you will be penalized.

A few years ago, a mobile friendly website was seen as a nice perk, a feature that some businesses and organizations thought would be great to show off to clients and customers. Fast forward to 2016 and a mobile friendly website is imperative if you want to be found on the World Wide Web.

The momentum of the mobile world cannot be denied. Smart business owners understand that nearly 74 percent of all searches are coming from a mobile device.

Below are three reasons that you should have a mobile friendly website.

Google Has Two Indexes

Google has two search indexes one is for desktop searches and the other for mobile searches. Back in 2015 Gary lllyes, a trends analyst for Google told everyone in the SEO community that Google had begun working on a mobile only version everyone was shocked. That would give desktop users a complete separate search index to the search index that mobile users would have. In fact, Google has begun testing both indexes using different keywords in different states, cities, and countries. So what does that mean for you and your business? It means you better get a move on and make sure that your company has a mobile friendly website.

People are now using a mobile device more than a desktop for searches

Back in May of 2015, Google announced that more searches are taking place on a mobile device in 10 countries that included Japan and the United States. Knoxweb explains that business websites should be aiming their site design to mobile device users.

Consumers are spending an average of 15 to 20 hours each week doing research on Smartphone’s. Research indicates that people will visit a website that they are interested in purchasing from six times before they actually buy something. According to Knoxweb that study was conducted three years ago in 2013 so it is a safe bet that number has grown by leaps and bounds.

On the go customers use Smartphone’s for local business searches

Today most people have Smartphone’s and expect to be connected via these mobile devices. When needs and questions arise, the first place they go is the Smartphone. Most often, it is to buy products or services in the local area. It is vital that you are listed online and have a mobile friendly website that is listed correctly. An astonishing 69 percent of mobile users expect a business or organization to be located five miles within their location when making a bricks and mortar purchasing decision. If you do not have a mobile friendly website, you will not show up in the local search engine results.

This Memorial Day weekend take a moment to remember the real reason that the last weekend in May is dedicated to the veterans who have served the United States of America.

Originally known as Decorations Day, Memorial Day is a day that is dedicated to the remembrance of the people who have died while serving the United States of America.

New York was the first state to recognize Decoration Day as a Holiday in 1873, with all of the Northern States proclaiming it a holiday in 1890. The South refused to acknowledge Decorations Day, instead honoring their own dead on another day until after the First World War when the holiday changed from those who died in the Civil War to honoring all Americans who died during battle in any United States war.

With that being said, some claim their town to be the first to celebrate Decoration Day. Columbus, Miss held a ceremony with a group of women visiting a cemetery on April 25, 1866. They were there to decorate the Confederate soldiers graves who had died fighting the battle of Shiloh, however, when they noticed that the nearby graves of the enemy had been neglected they placed flowers on the Union soldiers graves as well.

Cities in the South and the North claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Columbus and Macon GA, Richmond, VA, Boalsburg, PA and Carbondale, Illinois all say that the first Memorial Day took place in their township. At last count 25 towns and cities have claimed to be the originator of Memorial Day.

Memorial Day ceremonies were held on May 30 at the end of the 1800’s with state legislature passing proclamations to designate the day as an official holiday.

In 1971, Memorial Day became a national holiday, and although it was, and in some cases, is still referred to as Decoration Day, the holiday was officially known as Memorial Day.

Many states in the South have their own holidays honoring the fallen Confederate soldiers. Alabama celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the 4th Monday in April while Mississippi celebrates on the last Monday in April. North and South Carolina observe Confederate Memorial Day on 10 May. Louisiana celebrates on 3 June with Tennessee calling the same date Confederate Decoration Day.

Regardless of the exact location or date, Decoration Day began after the Civil War when General John Logan, who was the National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed that, “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.” The General called it Decoration Day, as it wasn’t meant to be the anniversary of any battle in particular.

General James Garfield gave a speech on the first Decoration Day at Arlington Cemetery where more than 5,000 people decorated the 20,000 Confederate and Union soldiers who were buried there.

As you enjoy the long weekend with family and friends take a moment to remember all of those who have made it possible for you to enjoy your barbecues and picnics in the land of the free.

When it comes to Social Media Advertising, Knoxweb has got you covered with a team of professional Social Media Advertising experts that can help put you on the map when it comes to your online business profile.

When you schedule a no obligation Social Media Advertising consultation with the team from Knoxweb everything will be discussed in order to tailor make a Social Media Advertising plan for your business or organization. Most people have no idea that there is more to Social Media Advertising then Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Depending on what products or services you sell, you may want to spend more time and effort on other Social Media Advertising for sites such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, or Snapchat.

As if 2015, there were hundreds of sites available for Social Media Advertising including WhatsApp, which was one of the fastest growing social media sites for the year.

With that being said, Knoxweb would like to share a few Social Media Statistics and Facts that may interest you.

It’s hard to believe that Facebook is now a bit over 11 years old and is still going strong as the leader of the pack when it comes to social media. Although Google+ tried to take Mark Zuckerberg off the throne, and although it cost more than a half a billion to develop, isn’t taken that seriously, be Social Media Advertising executives. However, Google+ may be the right fit. Only Knoxweb knows for sure.

Knoxweb explains that one of the largest trends to hit social media in the past 18 months is the move from free to pay to play. Another big impact on the social media scene? Whatsapp and Snapchat. These social messaging platforms have literally become social media networks in their own right.

Experts believe that the shift has occurred because Facebook is popular with all age groups and teenagers just don’t want to be in the same playground as their parents. Amazingly enough, both Shapchat and Whatsapp are now among the top five social media platforms on the planet. Facebook attempted to buy the chat social media site Snapchat for $3 billion, but was sent packing. However, Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook family whipped out $20 billion and purchased WhatsApp instead.

Recent statistics indicate that there are 7.2 billion people in the world making these numbers quite interesting.

There are a little more than 3 billion active World Wide Web users

About 2.1 billion people all over the world have one or more social media accounts

3.65 billion Smartphone and Iphone users access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and other popular social media websites on their tablets or Smartphone’s

Nearly 1.7 billion people across the globe are active on social media

Knoxweb really are the Social Media Advertising experts and with so much information out there, it is difficult to decide where to put your efforts when it comes to Social Media Advertising. Call and schedule an appointment with Knoxweb who can help you come up with a Social Media Advertising plan that will boost your profile. Once you have attracted more attention, your media profile will grow increasing your sales and your profits.

The day after Thanksgiving used to be spent recovering from all the food that you consumed the day before, but these days, people all over the United States are creating a new kind of family and friend get together, otherwise known as Black Friday.

According to Knoxweb, the unofficial start to the shopping season begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving and some is linked with the Santa Claus Day parades that celebrate Thanksgiving with Santa showing up at the end of the parade heralding the opening of the, “Silly season.”

During the later part of the 19th century and the early 20th century, many Thanksgiving Day parades or Santa Claus parades were sponsored by the department stores, including the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Toronto Santa Claus Parade sponsored by Eaton’s in Canada. The parades were used by the stores to launch their big Christmas advertising push. Eventually it became an unwritten rule that no establishment would do any sort of Christmas advertising until after the parade was over meaning the official shopping season would begin the day after. Of course, that unwritten rule has changed in the past few years with some stores pulling out the Christmas merchandise around Halloween.

Of course, the official start of the Christmas shopping season didn’t come without controversy.

Back in 1939, the retail shops would have loved to have had a lengthier shopping season, especially after coming out of the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939.

The retailers that survived knew that much of America would be spending more for Christmas and wanted to get a head start when it came to the competition. However, there wasn’t a single store that wanted to be the first to start advertising before Thanksgiving.

Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date and moved Thanksgiving to the week before. This angered the public. Everything would have to be changed, including travel plans with some families refusing to move the holiday causing the holiday to be split between two different days. Some started calling the public holiday, Franksgiving.

Other controversies that ensued thanks to Black Friday included unreasonable demands on employees, which meant working longer shifts during Thanksgiving as some larger stores were now opening on Thanksgiving Day, something used to be unheard of.

One of the biggest controversies concerned safety and health risks. People are out of control on Black Friday and with less staff for crowd control, things could and do get ugly.

Another problem with Black Friday is that some manufactures were selling products that were made specifically for Black Friday with specifications that were lower than they would be any other time of the year.

Employees are often left with no other choice but to work or risk being, “Let go,” if they didn’t or don’t work on Thanksgiving or Black Friday.

In the past decade or so, some retailers are opening on Thanksgiving evening with Gray Thursday beginning at around 8:00 PM. This practice is beginning to fade as more and more businesses, including Knoxweb, will be closed to celebrate the holiday with family and friends.

This Thanksgiving Day take a moment to remember what’s important and don’t forget to thank your friends and family for everything that you are thankful for.